I had forgotten to say that after the Shark exhibit there were some storm
clouds moving in.
I wanted to get the moms out to the vehicles before rain started falling but
Roxy hung back
with the girls to stop at the Dolphin Nursery. While they were there one of
the dolphin
handlers told us about the Dolphin feed and that the first one in the
morning is the one to
go to.

Our parents decided to sleep in and then meet us for breakfast so it was
just Roxy, the girls,
and me dragging ourselves out of bed. We got dressed, ate a quick breakfast,
and were out
the door. Sea World was just a mile down the road so we made it there in no
time and
parked right up front. I stopped a nice couple from either Australia or New
Zeeland (judging
from their accents) and asked if they would snap a shot of us and they did:

Again back through the "special" door next to the customer service door to
get our tickets and we
were in and making a beeline for Dolphin Cove. Snapped another pic of the
flamingos...

...and BUM PA PA BUM! We actually made it to a "rope drop" ....just still
not one at Disney

When they let us through we headed down to the cove and were the very first
family in line! We
had to wait there for about 15 minutes before they opened. The handlers
explained how to feed
the dolphins and interact with them. You could tell the dolphins were hungry
as they kept circling
around in front of us.

Bean was the very first one to the wall with her fish

Then Roxy and others started filtering up

Pumpkin Girl's turn

And then Roxy

I didn't bother with feeding them here since I knew we'd get good
opportunities at Discovery
Cove a few days later. So we moved down the wall to the petting area. The
dolphins would pop
up to see if we had food or to say "hi" or swim by so you could pet them

They were very active down by the underwater viewing area - thrashing and
rolling over each other

We walked around the bend and down into the underwater viewing area. It was
very cool the way
they seemed to be watching us as intently as we were watching them :D

More inquisitive dolphins and happy daughters

We circled around to the Ray Pool from there after a quick bathroom
break

Everyone took turns petting them

and then Roxy bought some fishies to feed them with. It is the weirdest
feeling to have them suck
the fish from your hand!

even I got in on it

We ran out of fish and I looked at the time and saw it was time for us
to leave and meet up
with my parents for a breakfast buffet (Nana decided to stay home and
rest/do some
telecommuting prepping payroll for the company her and Roxy work for).
As I was putting
my camera away I had a pretty cool Disney moment ...or I should say I
gave one.

Set your clocks back to our first day at MK. After PhilharMagic the fam
had gone into the
gift shop adjacent to the exit of the show and both girls picked up some
trinkets. I was
looking at pins and wanted one to put on my camera backpack. I had been
looking at one
with Mickey popping out the top of a "2008" where each of the numbers is
themed like a
character's outfit and a "Walt Disney World" sign dangling below it.
There was a big row
of them and after looking at others I decided to get it.

We rung up our purchases and I took the pin out of the bag and started
putting it on my
camera bag. As I started to pin it I did a double-take. The pin I had in
my hand was a 2008
pin, but it had Cinderella on top instead of Mickey! DW asked if I
wanted to take it back in
there and exchange it, but I said "no, this one is OK." I had carried it
around for the next 4
days and every once in a while it would catch my eye. It didn't look
right there, but
something about it had made me hold on to it.

Roxy and the girls were just starting to leave the Ray Pool as I was
putting on my backpack.
Just then a Make A Wish family walked up to the pool (they were wearing
the MaW
T-Shirts). It clicked in my head and I thought about it for a few
seconds, hoping I wouldn't
seem like a weirdo doing it, but walked up to the family. I asked the
parents who's wish had
been granted and they pointed to their daughter (she looked to be around
6 or 7) and said
her name. I leaned down and said "well then this is for you" and gave
her the pin.

I know it was just a little thing, but it was great to see her face
light up and it made me feel pretty
good. They said thank you and I told them that I hoped they have a
wonderful day and said
goodbye. My fam had stopped a little ways off wondering what I was
doing. When Roxy asked I
said 'oh, nothing' and she gave me a funny look but let it go (I told her
a bit later).

The girls had walked up to a face painting booth and since it was early
we figured it would be
worth paying the money to do it. Bean was a Swan and Pumpkin Girl was a
blue fairy. I took a
shot of them next to the Shamu at the exit

We got our hands stamped and hopped in our rig, spun up ye ole GPS and
followed it to our
breakfast destination at the Sizzler across from Ripley's. My parents
got a bit lost trying to get there
from the resort, and at one point I didn't help and sent them in the
wrong direction! They finally got
turned around and made it to us. DW had paid for us and had gotten the
girls going with some
food. So we were able to walk right up to our table and get plates and
start piling on the vittles!

It was a very good breakfast buffet and our waitress was fantastic -
very attentive and personable :-]
After a great meal with them we all headed back to the resort. My
parents decided to kick back for
the day so we said goodbye to them. But Nana had finished up her work so
the five of us headed
back out to SeaWorld.

When we got to the gate we realized that we had washed off our hand
stamps after eating
breakfast! Luckily the guy working the turnstiles had a sharp eye and
recognized the handiwork of
his park's face painters - lolol :D So we were in and headed straight to
Pets Ahoy!

On the way in I snapped a shot of the cool sundial sculpture they have
adjacent to the theater. We
got there at a good time and were right up front. Here's a couple of
shots of the girls right before
showtime!